Recovered memories of trauma: Phenomenology and cognitive mechanisms

doi:10.1016/S0272-7358(98)00040-3

Clinical Psychology Review

Volume 18, Issue 8, December 1998, Pages 949-970

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0272-7358(98)00040-3 Get rights and content

Abstract

We outline four current explanations for the reported forgetting of traumatic events, namely repression, dissociation, ordinary forgetting, and false memory. We then review the clinical and survey evidence on recovered memories, and consider experimental evidence that a variety of inhibitory processes are involved in everyday cognitive activity including forgetting. The data currently available do not allow any of the four explanations to be rejected, and strongly support the likelihood that some recovered memories correspond to actual experiences. We propose replacing the terms repression and dissociation as explanations of forgetting with an account based on cognitive science.

Section snippets

Current explanations of observed forgetting

To date such observations have been explained in four main ways, either as examples of the psychological defences of repression or dissociation, or as ordinary forgetting, or as false memories.

Content of Recovered Memories

Several surveys have now been published that indicate the kinds of conditions surrounding memory recovery and the content of the memories. Morton et al. (1995) reviewed the frequency with which, according to records kept by the false memory societies, recovered memories involved reports of Satanic or ritual abuse (SRA). The American data were abstracted from a report produced in Summer 1993 by the director of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation. This indicated that 11% of callers mentioned

Inhibitory Processes in Everyday Cognition

Inhibition in the cognitive system has been discussed by numerous researchers who investigate the topics of attention and memory. In a manner analogous to neuronal interactions, there is evidence for lateral inhibition of related constructs in memory. Lateral inhibition enhances the processing of a target item or set of items by decreasing the processing afforded to related but irrelevant items which might potentially interfere with the target. One example is retrieval-induced forgetting

Integrating clinical and experimental observations

As we have seen, the data available are consistent both with some recovered memories being false and others being essentially accurate. In this section we put forward our own theoretical ideas to explain how essentially accurate memories can be recovered after having been forgotten for many years.The clinical phenomena are complex, however. Explanations are needed for at least two separate sources of variation in such memories: Differences in the extent of prior forgetting, and differences in

Concluding comments

One could be forgiven, after reading some commentators, for concluding that repression was an outlandish notion believed in only by gullible clinicians and with no analogue in experimental research. In fact this does not seem to be the case, providing we define repression somewhat more narrowly than usual as a decrease in the level of activation, and hence of the accessibility of a specific representation in memory, produced by an active inhibitory process. At the most general level, we may

References (98)

L.M. Destun et al.
Autobiographical memory and recovered memory therapyIntegrating cognitve, clinical, and individual difference perspectives
Clinical Psychology Review
(1996)
M.R. Harvey et al.
Amnesia, partial amnesia, and delayed recall among adult survivors of childhood trauma
Consciousness and Cognition
(1994)
L. Hasher et al.
Working memory, comprehension and agingA review and a new view
M. Howes et al.
Early childhood memoriesAccuracy and affect
Cognition
(1993)
I. Hyman et al.
Errors in autobiographical memories
Clinical Psychology Review
(1998)
J.F. Kihlstrom
The trauma-memory argument
Consciousness and Cognition
(1995)
J.F. Kihlstrom et al.
Mental representations of the self
W. Kuyken et al.
Intrusive memories of childhood abuse during depressive episodes
Behaviour Research and Therapy
(1994)
D.S. Lindsay et al.
Creating illusions of familiarity in a cued recall remember/know paradigm
Journal of Memory and Language
(1996)
S. Rachman
Emotional processing
Behaviour Research and Therapy
(1980)

J.W. Schooler

Seeking the coreThe issues and evidence surrounding recovered accounts of sexual trauma

Consciousness and Cognition

(1994)

Alpert, J. L., Brown, L. S., & Courtois, C. A. (1996). Symptomatic clients and memories of childhood abuse: What the...

Anderson, M. C., Bjork, R. A., & Bjork, E. L. (1994). Remembering can cause forgetting: Retrieval dynamics in long-term...

M.C. Anderson et al.

On the status of inhibitory mechanisms in cognitionMemory retrieval as a model case

Psychological Review

(1995)

B. Andrews

Can a survey of British False Memory Society members reliably inform the recovered memory debate?

Applied Cognitive Psychology

(1997)

Andrews, B., Brewin, C. R., Ochera, J., Morton, J., Bekerian, D. A., Davies, G. M., & Mollon, P. (1997a). The...

Andrews, B., Brewin, C. R., Ochera, J., Morton, J., Bekerian, D. A., Davies, G. M., & Mollon, P. (1997b). The process...

B. Andrews et al.

Intergenerational links between psychiatric disorder in mothers and daughtersThe role of parenting experiences

Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry

(1990)

B. Andrews et al.

The recovery of memories in clinical practice

The Psychologist

(1995)

C. Bagley

Child sexual abuse and mental health in adolescents and adults

(1995)

Belli, R. F., & Loftus, E. F. (1994). Recovered memories of childhood abuse: A source monitoring perspective. In S. J....

R.A. Bjork

Retrieval inhibition as an adaptive mechanism in human memory

Breuer, J., & Freud, S. (1974). Studies on hysteria (Trans. by James and Alix Strachey). In The Pelican Freud library...

C.R. Brewin et al.

Psychopathology and early experienceA reappraisal of retrospective reports

Psychological Bulletin

(1993)

C.R. Brewin et al.

A dual representation theory of post- traumatic stress disorder

Psychological Review

(1996)

C.R. Brewin et al.

Intrusive memories in depression

Psychological Medicine

(1996)

J.N. Briere

Child abuse trauma

(1992)

J. Briere et al.

Self-reported amnesia for abuse in adults molested as children

Journal of Traumatic Stress

(1993)

E. Cardeña

The domain of dissociation

Carr, T. H., & Dagenbach, D. (1990). Semantic priming and repetition priming from masked words: Evidence for a...

M.A. Conway et al.

Recollections of true and false autobiographical memories

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

(1996)

D.P. Crowne et al.

The approval motiveStudies in evaluative dependence

(1964)

Dagenbach, D., Carr, T. H., & Barnhart, T. M. (1990). Inhibitory semantic priming of lexical decisions due to failure...

Dalenberg, C., Coe, M., Reto, M., Aransky, K., & Duvenage, C. (1995). The prediction of amnesiac barrier strength as an...

P.J. Davis

Repression and the inaccessibility of affective memories

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

(1987)

P.J. Davis et al.

Repression and the inaccessibility of affective memories

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

(1987)

M. Dozier et al.

Psychophysiology in attachment interviewsConverging evidence for deactivating strategies

Child Development

(1992)

D.M. Elliott et al.

Posttraumatic stress associated with delayed recall of sexual abuseA general population study

Journal of Traumatic Stress

(1995)

M.H. Erdelyi

Repression, reconstruction, and defenseHistory and integration of the psychoanalytic and experimental frameworks

S. Feldman-Summers et al.

The experience of ‘forgetting’ childhood abuseA national survey of psychologists

Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology

(1994)

E.B. Foa et al.

Change in rape narratives during exposure therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder

Journal of Traumatic Stress

(1995)

J.J. Freyd

Betrayal traumaThe logic of forgetting childhood abuse

(1996)

R.E. Geiselman et al.

Disrupted retrieval in directed forgettingA link with posthypnotic amnesia

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

(1983)

S.N. Gold et al.

Degrees of repression of sexual abuse memories

American Psychologist

(1994)

J.A. Gray

The neuropsychology of anxiety

(1982)

G.H. Gudjonsson

Accusations by adults of childhood sexual abuseA survey of the members of the British False Memory Society (BFMS)

Applied Cognitive Psychology

(1997)

J.L. Herman

Complex PTSDA syndrome in survivors of prolonged and repeated trauma

Journal of Traumatic Stress

(1992)

J.L. Herman

Trauma and recovery

(1992)

Cited by (78)

Phenomenological characteristics of recovered memory in nonclinical individuals
2018, Psychiatry Research
A central hypothesis of recovered memory is that the source of the memory may be misattributed, and the memory of an imagined event may be mistaken as the memory of the perceived event that was not remembered. The judgment of memory source depends upon phenomenological characteristics. Thus, the present study investigated characteristics of recovered memory. To exclude potential confounding effects of traumatic stress and acute mental illness, data on recovered memories of diverse valences in a nonclinical sample were collected. Self-report scales including a measure of memory characteristics were used to evaluate recovered memories and age-matched autobiographical memories that had been continuously remembered. The results showed that recovered memory was of lower clarity and contained less detailed sensory, contextual, and temporal information; additionally, it was associated with fewer thoughts and lower intensity of feelings. Participants also felt less confident regarding the veracity of recovered memory in comparison with continuous memory. In contrast to recovered trauma memory reported by clinical clients, vivid sensory details and intense affect did not characterize recovered memory in nonclinical individuals. The reduction in perceptual and contextual information, as well as cognitive operations, may increase the difficulty of judging the source of recovered memory.
Traumatic stress, neural self and the spiritual mind
2016, Consciousness and Cognition
Citation Excerpt :
Typical symptoms of somatoform dissociation are alterations in sensation of pain (analgesia, kinesthetic anesthesia), painful symptoms, perception alterations, motor inhibition or loss of motor control, gastrointestinal symptoms and dissociative seizures (Bob, 2008; Brown & Trimble, 2000; Kuyk et al., 1999; Nijenhuis et al., 1996). Recent studies indicate that close relationship between dissociation and traumatic experiences has also been found in modern studies of depression, schizophrenia and other mental disorders related to stressful memories accompanied by feelings and physical sensations, reliving a traumatic event that represent dissociated states separated from normal mental phenomena (Beck, Rush, Shaw, & Emery, 1979; Spenceley, 1997; Brewin & Andrews, 1998; Wegner, 1994; Kuyken & Brewin, 1995; Bob, 2015). Manifestations of dissociative states are typically related to limited self-representational capacities, which mean that certain experiences are overwhelming and too stressful and conflicting to become a part of integrative conscious experience (Baars, 2002; Bob, 2008).
According to recent findings stressful experiences may influence various physiological disturbances and also neuroanatomical changes and some studies also show that psychotherapy and meditation may influence brain functions. Traumatic stress is frequently related to a dissociative response that disintegrates conscious experience. In this context, self-reflection is an essential principle in the process of posttraumatic growth related to spiritual experiences and meditation states that enable mental integration and create the novel integrated self. According to recent findings there is no widely accepted evidence about specific neural mechanisms of processes related to mental integration linked to the spiritual experiences and meditation. Nevertheless there is growing evidence that these integrative experiences are related to various alterations in the brain’s physiology and morphology. These findings provide a new paradigm for understanding of mental disorders and emphasize the fundamental role of mental integration and integrated self in the therapy of psychiatric disorders.
The impact of childhood trauma on depression: Does resilience matter? Population-based results from the Study of Health in Pomerania
2014, Journal of Psychosomatic Research
Citation Excerpt :
Thus, a chronological order is inherent to our cross-sectional data regarding trauma and MDD diagnoses but not resilience. Autobiographical memory is at least partly reconstructive and affected by cognitive mechanisms like misattribution, suggestibility, and biases due to subjective logic [54]. With respect to traumatic events such as CM, the possibility of conscious motives, e.g. concealment because of shame and unconscious motives, e.g. repression, dissociation, ordinary forgetting, and false memory, was comprehensively discussed in research [54,55].
Data suggests that traumatic experiences at early age contribute to the onset of major depressive disorder (MDD) in later life. This study aims at investigating the influence of dispositional resilience on this relationship.
Two thousand and forty-six subjects aged 29–89 (SD = 13.9) from a community based sample who were free of MDD during the last 12 months prior to data collection were diagnosed for Lifetime diagnosis of MDD by the Munich-Composite International Diagnostic Interview (M-CIDI) according to DSM-IV criteria. Childhood maltreatment (CM) and resilience were assessed with the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) and the Resilience-Scale (RS-25).
Both CM (OR = 1.03, 95% CI [1.02, 1.04], P < .000) and resilience (OR = 0.98, 95% CI [0.98, 0.99], P < .000) were associated with MDD later in life. The detrimental effects of low resilience on MDD were not only especially prominent in subjects with a history of CM (OR = 3.18, 95% CI [1.84, 5.50], P < .000), but also effective in subjects without CM (OR = 2.62, 95% CI [1.41, 4.88], P = .002).
The findings support the clinical assumption that resilient subjects may be partly protected against the detrimental long-term effects of child abuse and neglect.
Recovered memory experience in a nonclinical sample is associated with dissociation rather than with aversive experiences
2012, Psychiatry Research
Different hypotheses exist for the relationship among trauma, dissociation, and recovered memory. According to one view, recovered memory results from dissociation that a survivor adopts as a defense mechanism during a traumatizing event to avoid emotional pain. From this perspective, trauma is a necessary antecedent to relate dissociative symptoms with recovered memory. Another view emphasizes the characteristics of the victim, such as fantasy proneness and atypical cognitive operations. This alternate view holds that trauma is not necessary in relating dissociation to recovered memory. We tested these two hypotheses, measuring recovered memory, dissociative symptoms, childhood interpersonal adversity, and fantasy proneness in a nonclinical sample of college students. Our results showed a significant correlation between recovered memory and dissociative symptoms; the correlation cannot be accounted for by childhood interpersonal adversity, fantasy proneness, or absorption. Recovered events can be negative, neutral, or even positive. Trauma is not necessary in relating recovered memory to dissociative symptoms.
Depression, traumatic stress and interleukin-6
2010, Journal of Affective Disorders
Recent evidence indicates that various types of interactions between nervous and immune system are important in pathogenesis of depression. These findings show that a significant role in developing depression play pro-inflammatory cytokines that may mediate its psychological, and neurobiological manifestations. Great importance among these cytokine molecules plays interleukin-6 (IL-6). There is growing evidence that this inflammatory process related to depression may be influenced by psychological stress as well as organic inflammatory conditions. These findings suggest that specific influences related to traumatic stress and dissociation could be found in close relationship to increased level of cytokine IL-6.
In the present study we have performed psychometric measurement of depression (BDI-II), traumatic stress symptoms (TSC-40) and dissociation (DES, SDQ-20), and immunochemical measure of serum IL-6 in 40 inpatients with unipolar depression (mean age 42.3 ± 6.8).
The results show that IL-6 is significantly correlated to BDI-II (Spearman R = 0.47, p < 0.01), TSC-40 (Spearman R = 0.32, p < 0.05), SDQ-20 (Spearman R = 0.34, p < 0.05) but not to DES (Spearman R = 0.25, p = 0.11).
The findings of the present study indicate that increased level of IL-6 in depression could be directly related to symptoms of traumatic stress and somatoform dissociation.
Forgetting unwanted memories: Directed forgetting and thought suppression methods
2008, Acta Psychologica
Citation Excerpt :
Hence, our review does not address broader issues about memory inhibition. Some authors have suggested that directed forgetting methods may be used to study individual differences in the ability to put disturbing material out of consciousness (e.g., Brewin & Andrews, 1998). The phenomenon directed forgetting refers to impaired memory arising from an instruction to forget the unwanted material (Anderson, 2005).
Experimental psychopathologists have tested hypotheses regarding mechanisms that ought to be operative if victims possess skills for forgetting material related to trauma. In this article, we review research on directed forgetting and thought suppression paradigms, concentrating on laboratory studies involving attempts by individuals reporting trauma histories to forget emotionally negative material. Most studies have shown that trauma survivors, especially those with post-traumatic stress disorder, are characterized by a breakdown in the ability to forget disturbing material. Studies on individuals reporting repressed or recovered memories of trauma have not confirmed predictions regarding heightened forgetting skills for trauma-related words. However, recent research on suppressing disturbing autobiographical memories suggests that people who report spontaneously recalling childhood abuse outside of psychotherapy may, indeed, possess skills for not thinking about disturbing material.

View all citing articles on Scopus

View full text

Recovered memories of trauma: Phenomenology and cognitive mechanisms

Abstract

Section snippets

Current explanations of observed forgetting

Content of Recovered Memories

Inhibitory Processes in Everyday Cognition

Integrating clinical and experimental observations

Concluding comments

Clinical Psychology Review

Consciousness and Cognition

Cognition

Clinical Psychology Review

Consciousness and Cognition

Behaviour Research and Therapy

Journal of Memory and Language

Behaviour Research and Therapy

Consciousness and Cognition

On the status of inhibitory mechanisms in cognitionMemory retrieval as a model case

Psychological Review

Can a survey of British False Memory Society members reliably inform the recovered memory debate?

Applied Cognitive Psychology

Intergenerational links between psychiatric disorder in mothers and daughtersThe role of parenting experiences

Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry

The recovery of memories in clinical practice

The Psychologist

Child sexual abuse and mental health in adolescents and adults

Retrieval inhibition as an adaptive mechanism in human memory

Psychopathology and early experienceA reappraisal of retrospective reports

Psychological Bulletin

A dual representation theory of post- traumatic stress disorder

Psychological Review

Intrusive memories in depression

Psychological Medicine

Child abuse trauma

Self-reported amnesia for abuse in adults molested as children

Journal of Traumatic Stress

The domain of dissociation

Recollections of true and false autobiographical memories

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

The approval motiveStudies in evaluative dependence

Repression and the inaccessibility of affective memories

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Repression and the inaccessibility of affective memories

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Psychophysiology in attachment interviewsConverging evidence for deactivating strategies

Child Development

Posttraumatic stress associated with delayed recall of sexual abuseA general population study

Journal of Traumatic Stress

Repression, reconstruction, and defenseHistory and integration of the psychoanalytic and experimental frameworks

The experience of ‘forgetting’ childhood abuseA national survey of psychologists

Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology

Change in rape narratives during exposure therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder

Journal of Traumatic Stress

Betrayal traumaThe logic of forgetting childhood abuse

Disrupted retrieval in directed forgettingA link with posthypnotic amnesia

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

Degrees of repression of sexual abuse memories

American Psychologist

The neuropsychology of anxiety

Accusations by adults of childhood sexual abuseA survey of the members of the British False Memory Society (BFMS)

Applied Cognitive Psychology

Complex PTSDA syndrome in survivors of prolonged and repeated trauma

Journal of Traumatic Stress

Trauma and recovery